City of Busselton votes to proceed with site identification study for potential $100m leisure centre move

The Geographe Leisure Centre could be making a $100 million move after the City of Busselton voted to proceed with plans to look for a new location for it. The council voted unanimously on Wednesday night to start a site identification process for a new district leisure and recreation centre and hold feasibility assessments to confirm the scope, cost and potential funding sources for the development. Two potential ways forward were presented, with council staff preferring to move the facility rather than expand the current site. It is estimated building a new leisure centre from scratch will cost $107 million, while staying put and redeveloping with court relocations will cost $105 million. Mayor Phill Cronin said the move was in the best long-term interests of the city. “Council is planning for the long-term future and determined that the best way forward would be to look for a new location to construct a purpose-built facility for the future, ensuring accessibility for everyone in the community,” he said. “The City of Busselton’s Sport and Recreational Facilities Strategy 2020-2030 also provides a long-term strategy to inform, guide and underpin the planning and provision of indoor and outdoor community sporting and recreation facilities to meet existing and future needs of the district, so council is actively driving this agenda forward.” City staff said protected flora in the immediate vicinity of the current leisure centre site meant the building could not be expanded on its east side. Officers also said keeping a functioning aquatic centre through a redevelopment would be a challenge and relocating courts to a separate location would involve finding a suitable site. Mr Cronin said the drawbacks to remaining at the site made moving the facility the best way forward. “The current Geographe Leisure Centre location is heavily constrained with rare flora in the surrounding bushland and limited parking,” he said. “It is also adjacent to a residential area. “There would be multiple issues and costs associated with re-engineering this site to deliver a whole new district leisure and recreation centre, plus it could mean an extended closure of all or part of the existing facility, so it was not deemed to be a suitable location.”